Title: Evidence revisited: literature on smart specialisation calls for more mixed research designs

Authors: Katharina Fellnhofer

Addresses: Research and Innovation Management GmbH, Marktplatz 7A, 3371 Neumarkt an der Ybbs, Austria; School of Business and Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology, P.O. Box 20, FI-53851 Lappeenranta, Finland

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present an overview of the applied research methods that have been used to examine smart specialisation. For this review, papers from various sources were collected and reviewed multiple times. The findings show that only a few papers applied mixed research methods. Primarily, there are more qualitative than quantitative methods used among papers concerning smart specialisation. More efforts to use mixed methods in smart specialisation could yield findings that are applicable to knowledge-based policymaking. To further illuminate the research discipline of smart specialisation, applying advanced, quantitative research techniques would enrich future efforts of all quadruple helix stakeholders engaged in smart specialisation.

Keywords: smart specialisation; literature review; knowledge-based policy making; research and innovation strategies.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKBD.2017.086407

International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, 2017 Vol.8 No.3, pp.229 - 248

Received: 23 Aug 2016
Accepted: 02 Nov 2016
Published online: 10 Sep 2017 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article